Boeing in Qatar

History

Today, Qatar is one of the world’s growing commercial airplane markets, and its countries’ defense needs are rapidly expanding. Boeing values its partnerships with Qatar and is committed to building on those relationships for mutual benefit into the future.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security products have also made their mark. In 2010, Qatar’s national carrier’s colors were seen in a very different context when the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) used its Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIs to airlift several tons of much-needed humanitarian aid to Haiti and Chile in response to disastrous earthquakes in both countries.

In December 2010, Boeing solidified its relationship with Qatar when it established its first office in the country. Operations at the Boeing office in Doha include the Defense, Space & Security business, Commercial Airplanes business and other support services that have significantly enhanced the level and quality of service that the company provides to its customers in Qatar. It enables Boeing to maintain in-person contact to further enhance its close working relationship with Qatar as part of the overall strategy to build long-term partnerships with customers and with the community.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes

When Qatar Airways ordered 22 777s of various types in May 2006, it marked the start of a new relationship between Boeing and the State of Qatar. Less than one year later, and even before it took delivery of its first airplane, Qatar Airways placed a landmark order for 30 of the game-changing 787 Dreamliner airplanes.

Qatar Airways was the first airline in the Middle East to receive a 787, and it has now taken delivery of all 30 Dreamliners ordered. In 2014, Qatar Airways finalized its order of 60 777Xs, for which it is a launch customer.

In October 2016, Qatar Airways announced another significant order for 30 787-9 Dreamliners and 10 777-300ERs, once again validating the value, reliability and performance of Boeing’s twin-aisle airplanes. In addition, Qatar Airways also signed a Letter of Intent for up to 60 737 MAX 8s.

In September 2017, Qatar Airways ordered two 747-8 Freighters and four 777-300ERs, adding to its fleet of nearly 100 Boeing aircraft.

Currently, Qatar Airways has a backlog of more than 100 Boeing airplanes.

Boeing forecasts the Middle East will require 3,310 new airplanes, worth an estimated $770 billion, over a 20-year period from 2016 to 2035. While about 45 percent of that demand will be for single-aisle airplanes, 53 percent will be for small, medium and large widebody airplanes, and the remaining 2 percent are demand for regional jets.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security

In 2008, Boeing’s relationship with Qatar was further cemented with an order for two C-17s and associated equipment and services to provide new strategic-airlift mobility capabilities for the country’s armed forces. This made Qatar the first nation in the Middle East to order the advanced airlifter.

Two additional C-17s were delivered in 2012. Since their first delivery in 2009, the QEAF’s C-17s have become a familiar sight in disaster-stricken countries; in many ways, they symbolize the wholehearted generosity of Qatar and its people that crosses borders and continents. Qatar added four additional C-17s to its fleet when it announced the purchase at the Paris Air Show in June 2015, reaching eight aircraft in total.

In early 2014, Qatar and Boeing partnered again on a program that will result in the delivery of 24 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters starting in late 2019. In September 2016, Qatar and Boeing concluded an agreement on a two-year program to provide QEAF Apache recruits with technical English language training for both pilots and maintenance workers.

Boeing continues to work closely with different authorities in Qatar to determine how the company can best meet its future military requirements.

Boeing Capital Corporation

As a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, Boeing Capital Corporation creates financing solutions for customers purchasing the company’s commercial airplane and defense products. As the company’s investment bank, it works closely with third-party financing sources that provide nearly all of the financing support required by Boeing customers. Boeing Capital also manages the company’s $3.5 billion portfolio of commercial jetliners.

Boeing Capital is continually strengthening its presence in the Middle East region, which is recognized as a high-growth area for commercial aviation with increasing demand for aviation financing. It regularly organizes events in the Middle East that are designed to engage the region’s finance community. Since 2006, Boeing Capital has hosted annual airline planning seminars for financiers in the Middle East, and its Middle East aircraft financier and investor conference has become an annual event.

In 2015, Boeing Capital appointed Ahsen Rajput to the position of deputy managing director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. Rajput is based in Abu Dhabi and is Boeing Capital’s first local hire in the region.

Boeing Capital is continuing to explore opportunities for Islamic finance in the aviation sector and the possibility of including aircraft finance in the Islamic sukuk, or bond market, in which an aircraft finance portfolio would be secured by an instrument known as the Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificate.